12.22.2002
The Human Race: An Unstoppable Machine of Destruction  
Some would call the various technological, scientific, and intellectual advancements made by the human race progress. I call it a plague. Every time a new sub-division of houses is built hundreds of trees are cut down, and thousands of animals become homeless. As we speak, somewhere there is a defenseless chimpanzee being suited up for laboratory testing that could damage them both physically and mentally. Why would anyone inflict torture upon an innocent chimp if they wouldn’t do it to themselves? It is highly disrespectful and arrogant for the human civilization (that term I use loosely) to feel that they have any right whatsoever to delegate which things should live and which should die.

It is a fact that any college or university in the United States that has an agricultural department has a cow. But, this isn’t just any cow; this cow has had a hole drilled into his stomach, and a flap of plastic (resembling a dog door) placed over it so scientists can reach in whenever they choose and extract material from the cow for research. Where are the forms the cow signed that said he gave the scientists permission to perform that task? Wouldn’t a human have to have at least ten pages worth of release forms signed before he could have any type of test done on him? That courtesy should be extended to all living creatures – they have the ability to think, don’t they?

Let’s not get started on the fact that humans feel the need to destroy, not only “lesser” creatures, but also each other. How can anyone who would wage war upon his “brother” refer to himself as civilized? Some may claim that it is done to ensure progress. It is not progress to cause a thriving city to crumble in order to make a point. I wholly support the space programs in the U.S. and the Soviet Union, but I do not believe that, that either, is progress. If we would only take responsibility for our fellow humans, the need for a new planet would not exist. Sure, everyone shakes their heads every time one of those sad commercials about the starving children in some third world country comes on, but how many of us actually do something to help. I can’t attest to doing that myself.

The next time you go to gawk at the animals at your local pet shop, just remember: they’re in cages; we put them in cages. Not that this is a issue to be taken lightly, but as the Comedian Kathleen Madigan said, if there is “intelligent” life in the universe besides the human race, they wouldn’t come here because we are the “black sheep” of the universe. As she put it whenever our Martian probes land on Venus, the Martians go "Oh, shit! It's them, pretend we're not home. Don't answer it!" But, seriously, folks, where do we, the human race, get off thinking we’re God’s gift to the world; to the universe?


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